Gays of our Lives (June 09, 2009)

Are the gays taking over daytime? It would seem so, as yet another daytime soap reveals its plans to tell a gay love story this summer. We’ve got the latest news and spoilers on the upcoming plot, including a clip of the intended lovebirds. Plus, we have an extra large helping of GOOL Theater this week, including a hot and sexy episode of Forbidden Love, some explosive events on EastEnders, heart pounding moments on Coronation Street and our first visit to New Zealand soap Shortland Street.

We’ve also got spoilers on a goodbye to Fair City’s gay character and the dish on what cutie pie Noah Mayer is shooting this week on As The World Turns.  Meanwhile, GOOL Newsbeat looks at the controversy surrounding EastEnders’ gay Muslim storyline as well as the scoop on another U.K. sudser's returning gay character. And as usual, SNAPSHOTS and our SOAP STUD OF THE WEEK!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURE: THE LATEST GAYS OF U.S. DAYTIME
GOOL THEATER
IN MY HUMBLE OPINION (IMHO)
SCOOPS & SPOILERS
GOOL SNEAK PEEKS
GOOL NEWSBEAT
BITS & PIECES
RATINGS & RANKINGS
SNAPSHOTS
SOAP STUD OF THE WEEK
QUESTION OF THE WEEK

One Life to Live's previous and future lovers Kyle Lewis (Brett Claywell)
and Oliver Fish (openly gay actor Scott Evans)

THE LATEST GAYS OF U.S. DAYTIME

One Life To Live, considered by many to be daytime’s second best soap opera (after The Young and the Restless) becomes the latest sudser to add a gay character to its cast. Or in this case, two!  According to soap columnist Nelson Branco, Officer Oliver Fish (played by out actor Scott Evans, brother of film star Chris Evans) and Kyle Lewis (played by Brett Claywell) are about to be revealed as having had a sexual relationship while they were in college.

Branco adds that despite the fact Fish has had relationships with a couple of different women in his time on the show, the two men will nevertheless be involved in a romantic storyline. Currently they share a prickly relationship that hints at their past, as we see in this clip below.

What is most intriguing about these two characters is that Fish is an obviously closeted cop and Kyle is a very shady lab tech who will do anything for a quick buck — and who until recently was suspected of several murders. In other words, they’re decidedly not your squeaky clean boy next door teens ala ATWT’s Luke and Noah and will possibly have more color, shadings and depth.

It also helps that they are on a much better written show and it's heartening to see the number of gay characters expanding enough to include such a wide diversity of characters.

One Life To Live’s previous gay characters: Billy Douglas (Ryan Phillipe),
Mark Solomon (Matt Cavenaugh) and Daniel Colson (Mark Dobies)

One Life has had gay characters in the past.  In 1992, they told the coming out story of gay teen Billy Douglas (played by Ryan Phillipe) then years later, the show had planned to have stud Rex Balsom, played by John-Paul Lavoisier, come out of the closet. In the end, they changed their minds (though the actor was reportedly cool with playing a gay character).

In 2005, there was an infamous storyline revolving around DA Daniel Colson (played by Mark Dobies) who killed several people to hide the fact that he was gay and having an affair with a much younger man, Mark Solomon (played by Matt Cavenaugh). Some found the storyline offensive, though this columnist did not and actually enjoyed it.

Might there be a third gay guy tossed into the mix? The show is currently casting the role of Griffin, a man Kyle is dating. And it seems Fish doesn’t like that idea at all. Hmm! Whatever happens, we’ll continue to follow this story as it develops and have all the clips, news and spoilers every week in the GOOL.